In recent years, the poor nutritional habits of the average American have received substantial criticism. One of the most common of these criticisms concerns the high proportion of fats and oils found in the average diet. When taken together with the limited activity level typical of many Americans, this high intake of fats and oils has resulted in significant weight problems which effect a large proportion of the population. In addition to the substantial personal displeasure most people find in such extra weight, there is a growing concern about the significant health problems which have been shown to be associated with such higher weight levels.
Many people with a weight problem of this kind have taken various actions to reduce and control their weight. Periodically, fad diets and other quick weight loss programs receive a great deal of publicity. In addition, many people have successfully pursued exercise programs to counteract their normally sedentary lifestyles. Another popular method has been to substitute popular high-calorie foods with substantially similar foods which are prepared with a reduced calorie content. Foods and beverages having a designation such as "lite" and "light" have become common in the marketplace. Chiefly, these products have substituted similar, but lower calorie naturally available ingredients for high calorie components of the food or beverage.
Another direction which has been taken has been to formulate food products with newly engineered ingredients. Such ingredients are chosen to have the same or similar physical properties, but are less digestible and thus are lower in available calories. Examples of compounds which are proposed for such use are found in several prior references. One such reference is U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,548. There it is shown that certain glycerol esters of certain branched carboxylic acids have the same physical properties as ordinary triglyceride fat but are not digested or absorbed to the same extent when eaten.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,962,419 to Minich shows dietetic compositions which are the product of the complete esterification of a polyhydric alcohol, such as neopentyl glycol, trimethylolethane, trimethylolpropane, pentaerythritol and dipentaerythritol, with fatty acids.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,548 to White shows glycerol esters of certain branched carboxylic acids which have the same physical properties as ordinary triglyceride fat but are not digested or absorbed to the same extent when eaten.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,186 to Mattson and Volpenhein shows sugar fatty acid esters and sugar alcohol fatty acid esters having at least 4 fatty acid ester groups. These compounds are said to have the physical properties of ordinary triglyceride fat, but are not absorbed to the same extent when eaten.
Canadian Pat. No. 1,106,681 to Trost shows glycerol dialkyl ether compounds which are said to have functional properties similar to those of conventional fats, but which are not absorbed in the digestive tract to any significant degree.
In New Fat Products: Glyceride Esters of Adipic Acid JAOCS, Vol. 36, page 667 (1959), Ward, Gros and Feuge have reported highly viscous edible oils for use in the food industry, primarily as lubricants and coatings. These oils are formed first by reacting two glycerol molecules with a dibasic acid, such as fumaric, succinic and adipic acids, and then reacting one of the carboxylic acid groups of each glycerol moiety with a fatty acid.